The safety net that had propped up Deutsche Telekom’s shares has vanished. With the second tranche of the company’s buyback programme ending at the close of June, the stock has lost a reliable buyer just as selling pressure intensified. On Tuesday, the shares tumbled more than 4% to €23.81, leaving them a mere three cents above the 52-week low of €23.78.
That steady buyer had been absorbing stock for months. Since April, Deutsche Telekom repurchased roughly 17 million of its own shares, with 1.65 million bought in the final week alone. The second tranche carried a maximum volume of €550 million. While a third tranche is in the pipeline, management has yet to confirm a start date, leaving the equity without near-term support from corporate buying.
The irony is that the underlying business has rarely looked stronger. In the first quarter of 2026, the group posted organic revenue growth of 4.7% to €29.9 billion, while adjusted EBITDA AL rose 7.5% to €11.5 billion. Buoyed by that performance, the board lifted the full-year targets to approximately €47.5 billion in adjusted EBITDA AL and more than €19.8 billion in free cash flow. Fitch Ratings responded by upgrading the issuer default rating from BBB+ to A- , citing an improved operational profile in the United States, stronger cash generation, and the growing contribution from T-Mobile US.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Deutsche Telekom?
Yet none of that has stopped the share slide. The stock is now roughly 31% below the February high, and technical indicators scream oversold: the relative strength index has plunged to 20.5. Even the steady progress on the ground — 83 new mobile sites added in May, 677 existing ones upgraded, and 99% of German households now covered by 5G — has failed to stem the outflow.
Investor anxiety has a different root, and it centres on a potential restructuring that could reshape the entire group. The Wall Street Journal reported that chief executive Tim Höttges is exploring a holding-company structure that would effectively merge Deutsche Telekom with its U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile US. The company has neither confirmed nor denied the story. T-Mobile US already accounts for roughly two-thirds of group revenue, and a full takeover would simplify access to its cash flows — but it would also stretch the balance sheet in the near term.
The next major inflection point falls on August 6, when Deutsche Telekom reports second-quarter results. That earnings release gives management a natural platform to address the merger speculation directly. Until then, the shares face a critical test: if the €23.78 support level gives way, chartists warn of further losses. For a company with record cash flow and a credit upgrade, the market is delivering an unusually harsh verdict.
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